Celebrated cinematographer VILMOS ZSIGMOND, best known for The Deer Hunter and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, died on January 1, 2016 in California, aged 85. Hungarian-born Zsigmond helped define cinema's American New Wave in the Seventies through iconic collaborations and a preference for natural light.

He first gained renown for his collaboration with Robert Altman on classics McCabe & Mrs. Miller and The Long Goodbye. In addition to his work on Michael Cimino's classic The Deer Hunter, for which he earned an Oscar nomination, Zsigmond also worked with Brian De Palma on a number of films including Blow Out. Zsigmond's sole Oscar win was for Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He was also responsible for the smokily beautiful cinematography on Heaven's Gate.

Zsigmond, who was given a lifetime achievement award by the Cannes Film Festival in 2014, also worked with George Miller on The Witches Of Eastwick and with Woody Allen on Melinda and Melinda, Cassandra's Dream, and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.